Norwegian woman: I was raped in Dubai, now I face prison sentence

Female rape victim calls the Dubai police.
The police say - 'Are you sure you called the police because you just didn't like it?'.
Female rape victim is thrown in jail and charged with major crimes.
Male rapist gets off without charges.

Norwegian interior designer Marte Deborah Dalelv has spoken out after being handed a 16-month prison sentence in Dubai -- after she went to police
to report she had been raped by a colleague. The 24-year-old was convicted and sentenced on charges of having unlawful sex, making a false statement
and illegal consumption of alcohol. Her story is dominating the headlines in Norway, and has raised serious questions over the way women who allege
sexual assault are treated in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai has a history of treating rape victims like criminals.
A few recent high profile cases -

In December 2012, a British woman reported being raped by three men in Dubai. She was found guilty of drinking alcohol without a license and
fined. In January 2010, a British woman told authorities she was raped by an employee at a Dubai hotel. She was charged with public intoxication and
having sex outside of marriage. An Australian woman reported in 2008 that she was drugged and gang-raped. She was convicted of having sex outside
marriage and drinking alcohol, and she was sentenced to 11 months in prison.

We only hear about what happens to foreigners who are raped in Dubai.
The women of that country have no one to speak out for them.
I can only imagine how difficult it must be for them.

Despite the existence of shelters and hotlines to help protect women, domestic violence remains a pervasive problem. The penal code gives men the
legal right to discipline their wives and children, including through the use of physical violence. In October the Federal Supreme Court issued a
ruling that upheld a husband's right to "chastise" his wife and children with physical abuse.

In January a Dubai court charged 23-year-old British woman and her fiance with having illegal sex and drinking outside permitted premises after the
woman reported to police that a hotel employee had raped her. In June the Abu Dhabi criminal court sentenced an 18-year-old Emirati woman to a year in
prison for illicit sex after she complained that six men gang-raped her a month earlier.

According to a survey conducted in January 2010 of 980 UAE residents, 55 percent of the female respondents said they would not report a sexual assault
for fear of tarnishing their family's reputation, and 49 percent would not do so because society would judge them harshly

The thing you have to understand about Dubai is – nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a con-job.
They lure you in telling you it's one thing – a modern kind of place – but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."

This is abhorrent, repugnant, completely unacceptable and utterly disgusting.

I don't care how much of an income boost anyone might offer to work in Dubai.
Visiting and working in such places where these kind of violations are ignored and even encouraged is akin to supporting these unconscionable
brutalities.

As to what I'd like seen done to these societies that condone these behaviors ... for the sake of T & C, I'll not say, but it would not be pretty.

This is a long article, but it really got me.
Dubai has been sold as some kind of wonderland for foreigners.
It's supposed to be 'progressive' and a safe place and beautiful.
But after reading this, I can say that no matter how many pretty new buildings
Dubai has, it is pretty darn backwards and ugly ....

The thing you have to understand about Dubai is – nothing is what it seems," Karen says at last. "Nothing. This isn't a city, it's a
con-job. They lure you in telling you it's one thing – a modern kind of place – but beneath the surface it's a medieval dictatorship."

Reading between the lines of Dubai law, they tend to use this pseudo intellectualism to support this re-victimization of victims because in their view
they see Rape and the reporting of rape as an attack on the image of their society, the hotlines are not there to assist the victims but used as a
dragnet to dispel and criminalize those reporting, they then treat victims as if they are actually 'confessing' to the crime being committed by
them. So it is clear that when Dubai law reads that rape is a crime, any one who reports this "crime against society" will be accordingly punished.

This being said. It's terrible how they treat women in the middle east.

Makes me wonder why the hell anyone would go there willingly if they are a female?

I'm not blaming the victims for what happened to them. Please don't misconstrue. It shouldn't happen to them at all.

But the middle east is kinda known for this kind of behavior. Shouldn't any woman thinking of accepting a job there pause for a moment, and think.
"you know, women have nearly no rights whatsoever in that desert hellhole, is the money worth me being raped and then put in jail for being
raped?"

Again, it's not their fault what happened. And to punish them for it is ludicrous.

But, still, I don't go to Texas because well, Texas is full of Texans. And if I ever went there, I wouldn't be surprised if I was burned at the
stake as a witch or murdered for being less than hard core extremist politically right wing.

If you have a vagina, maybe the place for you isn't a country where people with vaginas are treated worse than fecal matter.

Again, not saying that they asked for what happened to them, or that it's justified in any way shape or form, because it isn't and they didn't ask
for it, and certainly didn't deserve it.

(Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has pardoned a Norwegian woman who was sentenced to jail for illicit sex after she reported being raped by a
colleague while on a visit to Dubai, the Norwegian foreign minister said on Monday.

While ridiculous, it is pretty risky to drink in a nation that outlaws it. I mean, you've got NO idea what is going to be in it, and a HUGE degree of
trust in the server to do so.... I doubt any of these rapists are new to this. While insane, at least some of the blame has to go on the women not
being aware of where they are, and what they are doing. They are forgetting that in the eyes of those people, they are second class citizens, and
foreign or not (or especially being foreign), they'll be treated like it. It's part of the bargain for working there. They need to be aware of the
kind of environment that is and not take stupid risks. Should such an environment exist? Of course not...but not our rules.

Originally posted by Gazrok
While ridiculous, it is pretty risky to drink in a nation that outlaws it. I mean, you've got NO idea what is going to be in it, and a HUGE degree of
trust in the server to do so.... I doubt any of these rapists are new to this. While insane, at least some of the blame has to go on the women not
being aware of where they are, and what they are doing. They are forgetting that in the eyes of those people, they are second class citizens, and
foreign or not (or especially being foreign), they'll be treated like it. It's part of the bargain for working there. They need to be aware of the
kind of environment that is and not take stupid risks. Should such an environment exist? Of course not...but not our rules.

I don't think you get the picture. Did you read anywhere that the women had been drinking by their own admission? They were ALL charged with illicit
sex crimes, drinking and filing a false report. These were ALL lies.

It's easy to miss the forest for the trees.

As for women traveling to dangerous places, yes they should be able to safely. But the fact remains, there is great difference between cultures and
sometimes people have to make decisions based on safety and not monetary gain. I do believe though, many of these women are unaware of the potential
danger because the info is hidden from the public.

Dubai: A Norwegian woman has been sentenced to 16 months in jail for getting drunk and having consensual sex with her boss, whom she claimed raped
her in his hotel room.

The Dubai Misdemeanour Court handed the 24-year-old Norwegian, Marte Deborah Dalelv, a three-month imprisonment for falsely reporting to police that
she was raped, a month’s imprisonment for drinking and 12 months for having consensual sex.

Dalelv ’s 33-year-old Sudanese boss, H.A., was jailed for 13 months for consuming liquor and having consensual sex. When the woman appeared in
courtroom nine, she admitted to drinking alcohol. She denied having consensual sex and falsely reporting to police that she was raped on March 6.

She said H.A. had sex with her against her will while she slept on his bed.
Dubai Police’s forensic report confirmed that the woman had sex but there was no mention of any physical violence.

The Sudanese, who came to Dubai with Dalelv on a business visit from Qatar, pleaded guilty and confessed to having consensual sex.

Dalelv’s advocate Mahmoud Azab Abu Gareda told Gulf News on Sunday that they had already appealed the primary verdict. The first appellate hearing
is scheduled for September 5.

Prosecution records quoted the woman admitting that she had consensual sex with H.A.
She said they left the nightclub where they were drinking, according to her prosecution statement, at 3am and went to the hotel where they were
staying near Safa Park.

Dalelv claimed to prosecutors that H.A. suggested that she sleep in his room to wake up for an early business meeting.

The woman undressed and slept in her underwear on the bed while the Sudanese slept on the couch for a while before he moved to a bed beside her, she
claimed.

Prosecution records cited Dalelv admitting that she initiated the sexual activity with H.A. and he responded.
When asked by the investigating prosecutor why she reported to the police that she was raped, the Norwegian claimed it was because she was under the
influence of liquor.

Meanwhile police records said Dalelv informed police that H.A. had sex with her against her will.

She alleged to police interrogators that after she jumped into bed in her underwear, her boss slept on the couch.
The woman claimed she was sleeping when she woke up in pain and realized that H.A. was having sex with her. She claimed that she asked him to stop
repeatedly and attempted to push him away.

When the case appeared in court, advocate Abu Gareda asked the court to dismiss his client’s consensual sex charge and giving a false statement to
the police.

How is so different between Norwegian laws and Dubai laws..? If she was in Norway and get (supposedly raped) by her colleague the law and court will
charge the man and put him in prison till the facts pop up (with this popular bureaucracy hell in this country he’ll be behind the bars for quite
sometimes).

Now you guys criticizing Dubai laws and why they put her behind the bars and not questioning why it is vice a versa in western countries (especially
in Scandinavia)..?

Both surely have different laws. Most Muslim countries uses Shariah law in dispensing justice and I think UAE laws are based on Shariah also and i'm
pretty sure Shariah don't exist on any Scandinavian countries.

I don't think you get the picture. Did you read anywhere that the women had been drinking by their own admission? They were ALL charged with
illicit sex crimes, drinking and filing a false report. These were ALL lies.

See above. They were drinking. Some had sex outside of marriage. May not seem like a serious offense to us, but there? I lived in the Middle East
before, and I'm very familiar with their views and laws. While the vast majority of fault lies with those who victimized the women, the women did have
SOME fault of their own, that's all I'm saying. They aren't 100% innocent here. They are briefed on what to expect culturally, the do's and don'ts,
etc. They took big risks engaging in the behavior, and suffered unspeakable crimes because of it.

Both surely have different laws. Most Muslim countries uses Shariah law in dispensing justice and I think UAE laws are based on Shariah also and i'm
pretty sure Shariah don't exist on any Scandinavian countries.

I am well aware of both laws, but there is proverb saying When in Rome, do as the Romans do or face the consequences,
right..?

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